Heartbeat
by maxiescarlet
Summary: Ed has gone on a mission but hasn't returned. When Roy finds him is the heartbeat for his subordinate or his love? WANING: Character death
1. I will save you

**Hello everyone, this is my first fanfic so please bear with me. **

**I will try to update as soon as possible ****Hopefully every week or so.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA (I wish)**

**Please give reviews and **

**Without further ado here is Heartbeat**

-Intro-

3 months ago Edward Elric, The Fullmetal Alchemist was sent on a secret to the North. The mission was supposed to take 1 month. When communication between Ed and the military suddenly ended, heavy suspicion was aroused. Since it was still a secret mission only ten men were allowed to go after the young alchemist. Those ten men also lost communication with HQ and the situation was brought the Furhrer's attention.

The King Furhrer Bradley ordered Colonel Mustang to gather men and go after Ed. Alphonse Elric was known to be with Ed but since Al wasn't officially part of the military he wasn't part of the rescues mission on paper, but Roy knew that he couldn't Ed to go anywhere without Al. Colonel Roy Mustang was determined to bring back the Elrics…Alive.

Roy Mustang gathered his best men to go on this mission; including Falman, Havoc, Hawkeye, and Hughes. In total they had 25 men. The Colonel went up North and would not return without the Elrics.

-End Intro-

* * *

-Chapter 1- I will save you

It took a whole week, but this was the last building in the town. This was the last town that Ed had been seen in so it seemed right to start their search here.

There was something wrong with this town though. At first it seemed like Ed went on one of his rampages and destroyed the whole town, but there was also no people. Alive people anyway, they had found traces of people it was just skeletons though, and Ed never killed anyone. Every building they had gone through had some sort of damage on the outside. But as they got closer to the last building in the town Roy noticed that it was untouched.

Roy thought about this, maybe this was the jail where they would find Ed arrested. But if he had been arrested Ed still would have called and the 10 men that came after him would not be missing. Things were just too weird and it was giving him goose bumps.

They got to the doors of the building and Roy turned around and looked at his men waiting for his order.

"Weapons ready men," the colonel commanded looking at every one of his men before continuing, "keep a look out for Ed and Al but also the other 10 men that were sent to find them." He opened one of the doors surprised to find it unlocked but entered anyway suspicion growing a little.

He looked around and saw three corridors. One going to the right, left and one straight ahead. He decided he didn't have the numbers to split into three and was going to go with something a little odd.

"Alright, here is what we are going to do. Since we don't have and means of communication other than our voices we are only going to split into two groups. Hawkeye you will take 9 down the right hallway, and I will take 9 down the left. The rest of you will stay here as a middle man to yell to the other if needed and also as lookouts down the middle Havoc you stay with them. And if Hawkeye and I find nothing down either hallway we will meet in the middle and go down the last hallway together."

Roy turned and walked down his hallway not waiting for any responses, he had to find Fullmetal, it was Roy's fault that he was here anyway if anything happened to him Roy didn't know what he was going to do.

He pulled on his gloves putting his fingers gently together ready to snap at the sight of any movement.

* * *

As Hawkeye turned and looked down her hallway she noticed it seemed a little too dark. She wondered what type of building this was. On the outside it looked like a factory, but on the inside it just didn't match anything.

As she started walking she couldn't see any doors or openings down the corridor at all. She picked up her pace a little not sure what was happening and looked back and forth at little quicker than she was before, searching almost franticly for an opening.

When she still couldn't find any opening she started running knowing that her men were just as confused as her. It was so dark when she was running and looking side to side so fast she almost didn't even notice the wall that came up right in front of her. She stopped just inches away from the wall.

She looked at it almost disbelieving that it wasn't real. Hawkeye turned quickly and ran towards the doors meeting the same mysterious look that she probably had on her face.

She was worried about the boys, of course, but what she was more worried about was her superior. Because underneath the confusion on Roy's face was fear.

* * *

Roy and Riza led the way down the hall, while the rest of their company followed behind. This hallway was a lot shorter than the other two hallways. Roy made it to the end… still no doors. He had failed Ed, if Ed wasn't here then where in the world would he be. Out of frustration Roy slammed his fist against the wall.

"Damn it," he screamed at the wall making a couple of his troops jump. Roy looked up, usually when he hit a wall, which he had before, there was pain. But when he hit the wall this time there was a softness to the touch.

As he looked at the wall he realized that his hand broke through the wall. He retracted his hand quickly and stared. There really was a hole in the wall and it looked like there was a room on the other side. He looked at the wall again and saw the small hints of a transmutation. The small flakes and paper-like parts of the wall showed that this was originally an opening.

Roy's heart started racing, he knew Ed had to be in there. What if Ed was on the verge of dying and Roy just stood here? Roy was going to save Ed, he was going to for sure, he had to. Roy snapped, breaking the wall completely down startling a couple of his men in the back.

Roy looked into the room it was dimly lit and very messy from what he could tell. He walked into the room and immediately spotted three bodies on the floor. He jogged over to them hoping to see Ed, his heart sped up even more. He dropped a knee by the first body and recognized it as one of the 10 men sent to find Ed. He placed two fingers on his throat checking for a pulse and felt a very light heartbeat, but it wasn't staggered. Without moving he looked at the other two bodies and saw their chests rising and falling.

Roy stood sweat dripping down his forehead, disappointed that Ed was not so easily found. "Get these men to a hospital right away." As a couple of the privates moved to pick up the men Roy took a step back to look at the rest of the room.

Ed could literally be anywhere he is so small that it could take all day just to search this room if he was really crammed in somewhere. Roy smiled despite himself, Ed would kill him if he knew what Roy was thinking. But Roy's smile didn't last for long, he had something to do right now.

On the far right side of the room was a stack of boxes that almost reached the ceiling. As he looked at the top he noticed that the wall was a good 3ft from the back of the boxes. He walked towards the boxes and saw a glint of metal, not from the boxes but from something behind them. Roy's heartbeat once again grew faster.

Roy clenched his hands and reached for the closest box and moved it out of the way. One by one Roy moved the boxes until he could see the cage that was hiding behind the boxes. Roy hurried to one side of the cage and started to push it out of the way. Hawkeye however, was already on the other side ready to lift. Roy looked up not noticing that she was there beside him the whole time.

As Roy and Riza moved the metal box towards the middle of the room he could tell that that there was something mildly heavy inside. They set the box down and looked around it… there wasn't a latch or door anywhere on it. This is déjà vu, Roy looked at the metal box with irony and snapped his fingers. A flame went around the box and burned around the top. Roy slid the metal sheet aside and once again, his heartbeat rose.

His knees almost buckled. If it weren't for his subordinates watching him he would have started to cry. Roy's throat went dry as he bent down to pick up the small body. He was so light without an arm or leg and ribs showing through his obscenely pale skin Roy didn't even know if he was 50 pounds.

Roy held him like a baby for a few seconds before he dropped to the ground on his knees with Ed's head on his lap.

Half of his hear was gone with a bloodied scalp, the hair had been ripped out. Roy gently moved his fingers to Ed's throat to check for a pulse. Roy's hand was there for 5 sec before he felt the lightest bump against his fingers. Roy moved his head down to listen for breathing. What Roy heard was a small shallow intake of air.

Roy gripped Ed's arm and pulled him further into his lap. As he did so, he heard Ed's breathing catch. The arm that Roy's was so gently pulling on tensed and Ed's eyes shut tightly.

Ed then opened his eyes and looked hastily around with fear.

"Ed. Ed. It's us Ed... Mustang, Hughes, and Hawkeye. We are here Ed, you're are safe." Ed looked at Roy and Roy took in his breath. The once golden eyes were now brown… they looked dead.

Ed opened his mouth as to say something but nothing came out. Roy leaned down towards him to hear better and let Ed repeat.

"A…..Al…" Ed mumbled and was too quiet to hear the rest and Roy watched in alarm as the boy tried to get him to understand.

"What? Al is what?" Roy looked at the boy again

Ed opened his eyes more with alarm and pointed towards the metal box and repeated himself louder and almost completely clear.

"Al…..box." Roy heard the mumble or pause in the sentence and assumed it as Al is in the box. Roy looked on the box quizzically. There wasn't anything in the box. He looked at Ed in confusion but Ed was staring at the sheet of metal on the ground. There was tears in his eyes. Ed got out of Roy's laps and crawled towards it. When he got towards it he saw a tear fall to the ground as Ed fell on top of it and cried Al's name.

That was when Roy realized In horror that what Ed had said wasn't Al is in the box but Al **IS **the box.


	2. Hole in the Heart

**Hey everyone hope this didn't take too long **

**Thanks to all who read CH1 **

**I will update as soon as possible **

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA... duh**

**Please review follow and favorite!**

Ed didn't stop crying for a good 5 min but after 5 min he passed out because of exhaustion.

Once Ed had passed out Roy was able to really look the boy over. The once beautiful, long, and golden hair was now torn, cut, and bloody from the blood from his scalp. Ed's ribs were showing through his once muscular body with every part malnourished and bones grazing the skin. He only had his pants on, or the remains of his pants. Ed was covered in cuts and bruises, but the worst was his back and left arm. His back had small scrapes with one long scrape going from his left shoulder down across hi back to just pass his right ribs. The gash had to be at least an inch deep. Roy winced that has to hurt.

Roy was done staring at his hurt subordinate and started staring at the metal box wondering if what he thought he heard was really true.

If Al was the box that would mean that Al is dead. But if Al is dead then Edward would have failed his great quest of restoring his brother. And the reason that Al was dead was because Roy had sent them here and didn't come in time to save them when they were in trouble.

Roy knew it wasn't really completely his fault that Al was dead, it was the bastards who did this to the Elrics who were to blame. But, it still didn't change the fact that Roy was the one who sent the brothers to the bastards.

Roy looked at the floor in front of him, not wanting to look at the box anymore.

Roy wanted to cry but just couldn't muster the tears because what he felt wasn't sadness it was guilt.

* * *

Hawkeye stared at the limp Ed sadness crossed her face and she looked to instead the colonel to keep her face straight. He was no better to look at so she looked up to the remaining men waiting for an order.

"Privates, get this boy to a hospital immediately."

Three men jumped at her orders and slowly picked up the damaged and broken Edward Elric.

Riza looked back to the Colonel. His eyes slowly followed the men moving Ed but when they got behind him he dropped his head again and looked at the ground.

Riza walked over to Roy and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Sir, we should hurry and get in the car to follow them to the hospital. We can send an extra team here after to search the building more thouroughly for any more survivors or evidence." Riza ended her sentence clipped not really wanting to think about the seven other men that weren't found in the room.

Roy looked up at her and for a brief moment there was pain. Not physical pain but emotional. She could see pain in his eyes that bore straight into his eyes like a black hole. There was pain on his face, the way he was grimacing as though he were in physical pain almost made her drop her composure and fall to her knees to embrace him and comfort him.

But like a flash it was gone and his face became unreadable even to Riza but she could tell that he was hurting.

* * *

"You are right Lieutenant, we need to follow them." He looked at his remaining men standing in the room. "Pick the metal box up along with the metal sheet and bring it in the car with us." The men then obliged his order and heaved the box and metal sheet to the car.

He knew he was wearing a mask and whether or not it was strong was about to be tested when he walked outside the room and met Hughes in the hallway.

He stepped out of the door to meet watery eyes behind glasses. And Roy almost broke his composure. The man came and hugged him tightly, now crying without holding back.

"It's not fair Roy," Hughes took a second to at least stop sobbing, "they didn't deserve this. They were like my own sons…And now one of them is gone. And how is the other going to move on."

Roy placed an arm over his friends back and held it there until he thought he could speak without breaking his now fragile mask.

"I'm sorry Hughes I-" Hughes head shot up in front of his friends and a glare came from behind the watery eyes.

"Don't you dare start blaming this on yourself. It's not fair to me, to you or the Elrics." Roy stared at his friend as a sternness came across his face and Roy felt like he was being reprimanded for stealing a cookie out of the jar. "Just because you may have given the mission it wasn't your fault that Al…died. There was a little hesitation when he said those words knowing the pain it caused both of them. "And it most certainly wasn't your fault that Ed ended up in this condition."

Roy's mask was broken but no tears came because Hughes had knocked some sense into him. At least for the time being. Roy decided to be strong not only for Ed but for his friend too.

Roy knew that Hughes loved the boys just as much as his own daughter. Seeing Ed and Al like this probably did a great deal on him.

Roy stood up straight and looked his friend in the eyes. "Let's get in the car, we should be at the hospital with Ed and the other men to be there for them."

The two men walked to the car together Hughes sat in the passenger and Roy took the driver's side. Roy looked back as the back door opened and saw Hawkeye slide in.

"Sir, they are taking him to Central Hospital, they can be there in 5min."

"Is Havoc driving?" Both Hughes and Roy asked at the same time.

"Yes." A small smirk coming across her face.

Everyone knew that Havoc was a crazy driver but when he needed to get somewhere fast the time was at least cut in half.

Roy started the car and drove as fast as he could to Central Hospital. Even though he weaved through traffic at 60mph he still only made it in 20min.

Roy quickly went inside the hospital and went to find Havoc. He was waiting, along with two other men that were helping him, in the waiting room.

Roy walked up in front of him and waited for the news that he was not ready to hear but knew he had to listen anyway.

Havoc stood up and saluted his superior but then quickly sat after. Roy took the vacant seat next to him and leaned into his subordinate to hear what was happening to Ed.

"Where is he?"

"He's in surgery now, his breathing was very shallow and erratic by the time we got here. The doctor's said that he was in a very bad condition and it was not yet possible to tell the outcome of it." Havoc clenched his hands wanting to be able to fight for his loved subordinate but knowing that it was all the doctors now.

"Have they updated you yet?"

"No we got here about 15min ago and they just took him to surgery right away." Havoc took a deep breath before continuing, "He looks really bad Roy worse than I have ever seen anyone live through." He took in a shaky breath, "I need a smoke."

Roy sat there stunned. One of his best subordinates just left the room crying. He could understand Hughes because he was like a father to the Elrics, but Havoc? He knew that he cared for the boys but he didn't know how much.

Roy stared at the ground what we he do if Ed died? Would he just move on or would he act like Havoc was now.

Roy realized then that if Ed died there would be an unreplaceable hole in his heart.


	3. Brotherless

**Hello everyone sorry it took so long to get this update. **

**Stupid tests and homework. I swear my teachers are trying to kill me.**

**This is a bit short but hope you still enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own f'ing none of FMA if I did you would know ;) **

Roy was beyond tired and his back was hurting way too much in this chair. He was sitting in it with his feet hanging off one side. How did he fall asleep when it was so uncomfortable? Roy opened his eyes and only then noticed the young man with a white coat staring at him.

"Are you Colonel Roy Mustang?" Roy just nodded still not awake enough to respond fully. "I'm Ed's doctor, if you could follow me I can update you on his status."

Roy followed the man down the hallway. The doctor was only a few steps ahead of Roy but Roy was so tired he could hardly keep up. When the doctor took a sharp right into a room Roy looked up to see what room number to tell everyone when he gets back then walked in behind the doctor.

The doctor went to the other side of the bed while Roy stood on the close side staring at his once beautifully golden subordinate.

Now that Ed was cleaned up Roy could tell just how pale he was. His once tan skin now almost blended with the hospital bed sheets. And his left arm was completely covered in bandages.

The doctor noticing his gaze chose that moment to speak up. "Ed, has several major injuries we will be watching him closely for the next few weeks. He has a major gash on his back that needed stitching and his left arm had multiple stab wounds. We aren't yet sure whether or not any nerves were hit."

Roy looked back at the doctor, "Does that mean that you aren't sure if he will be able to move his arm?"

The doctor nodded "That's correct, he also suffered major blood loss and will be very tired and weak for a while because of that. He also seems to be malnourished and his immune system seems to be failing. I think that his life is out of the danger zone but he still has a lot of fighting to do."

"Well, um, doctor…."

"Oh, sorry. I'm Dr. Nowaki Kusama. But, you can just call me Nowaki."

"Well, Dr. Nowaki is that gash on his back the worst of it?"

"Well, it's definitely the worst physical injury. However," Roy straightened not liking the tone the doctor was taking, "we found signs of sexual assault. Although there is no major physical damage there will most likely be physiological and mental damage."

Roy sat awestruck. Did he really just say Ed was sexually assaulted? There is no way what perverted monster would want to do that to a child? He couldn't say anything, he didn't know what to say. There was no way that he was going to be able to tell his subordinates this. He might be able to tell Hughes but there was no way he could tell Riza or anyone else.

"Colonel Mustang, Ed does have a prior record in this hospital and it's very violent. So I would suggest that once he is healed enough that he go home with you."

That snapped Roy out of his daze quick, "What? Why does he have to go home with me? I do not think that I am best suited to take him home. I'm not the most caregiving guy." Dr. Nowaki stared at him for a couple seconds before surprisingly snapping back.

"Listen Colonel Mustang, I realize you may not be the best person to care for him but he needs someone to look after him. And as his superior officer that duty falls into your lap whether you like it or not. If he had any relatives that would be different, but he doesn't. And you cant just give him to anyone, he needs to be able to trust them and there are only a select few of those people."

Roy interjected needing the clarification of the "trust" that Ed supposedly had in him. "Why does he need someone he can trust?"

The doctor sighed and looked at the ground. Rubbing the top of his nose like it was a pain to explain. That just made Roy more irritated. "Because, as I said before he has gone through major psychological trauma and if we were to just throw him into a place without him being able to trust them wholly then he would either lash out or retreat without coming back. It's common with torture victims to retreat into a subconscious, to escape the pain. The problem that arises however is that they sometimes never come back."

Roy stared back at the blonde alchemist and wondered if he was ever going to look like himself again. Eventually he might, but what Roy was more scared of was if Ed was ever going to act like Ed again. Roy must have put on a worried face because the doctor sighed and walked around the bed to stand near Roy.

"He could go back to normal, right now I can't tell. As soon as he wakes up I will do a psychological exam, but I don't think that it will turn out well." He placed a hand on Roy's shoulder and waited for Roy to look up, when Roy didn't he just continued," I'll leave now call me if he wakes up, you can just press the button by the bed if he does."

Roy never looked up he wasn't going to cry. Not here, not now. He couldn't do this to Ed and he knew that he would die before he let one of his subordinates see him like this. He took in a shaky breath. _Damn that kid. He made me like this. So vulnerable it is repulsive. How did it even come to this. Why am I even like this it isn't like I'm in love with him or anything._ Roy stopped. What did he just think?

Roy shook his head violently, how the hell did that pop up. Roy looked back up at Ed. He was half expecting Ed to be awake and giving him a death glare for crying by him. But Ed was still asleep. Still cut. Still bruised. And still brother less.

* * *

He was scared. There was the man there, the one that melted Al. That was Ed's breaking point he remembers. He doesn't remember anything after that. The room went black and Ed fell into a vast emptiness. _Where am I?_

"Where do you think you are?" It was him again but there was still nothing to be seen. Ed glared at him. The man came closer and grabbed Ed's chin. "Don't glare at me fucking brat!" Ed spat in his face.

"Ugh. You are going to pay for that you little bitch."

He grabbed Ed's throat and tossed him across the room. Ed could see that it was just a concrete room now. He landed hard on his shoulder. The man came over and flipped him onto his stomach. "You know men, we haven't tried this approach yet." Ed looked up and there was five more men standing around him laughing. Ed glared at one that was smoking and the man looked repulsively at Ed.

"Don't look at me like that kid." He stepped forward and smashed Ed's head to the ground with his foot. Keeping it there until he could see the blood spilling around Ed's head.

That's when Ed felt the tug at his pants. He let out a yelp without meaning to. He heard the man behind him laugh. The pull on his hair made his head lift from the ground and look at the man holding it. The wry smile sent shivers down his back and Ed wanted to give up.

"Do you like this Elric?" Ed felt a finger run down his ass pressing lightly over the opening but then moving on and squeezing the back of his balls. Ed bit his lip. He wasn't going to break not like this.

"Oh, boys I think he likes it." There was silence while the man working his way over Ed's balls. "I just had an excellent idea!" The man looked at the others standing around Ed. "Why don't we bring the armor boy in here to watch." Ed's eyes flew open and the men around started laughing. All of them agreeing.

The five men left to go get Al. "Know you little punk, if you tell me where Roy Mustang is then I'll let you go." Ed stared into the red eyes of the man wanting to give it up, wanting to save everyone, but knowing that he couldn't betray Roy. "No, then fine we will get it from the other one. We don't want you fighting back right now so…" The red-eyed white-haired man grabbed Ed's hair and slammed his head down onto the concrete knocking him unconscious.

* * *

Hughes woke up to the sound of is alarm ringing. He reached over his wife and lightly tapped the top to make the room go quiet again. He looked back down at Gracia, she was so beautiful. He knew he was lucky and wouldn't dare think that he never was because she reminded him of that every day.

He thought about the Elric brothers, and how _un_lucky they were. They never seemed to get a break. As soon as they commit themselves to do something someone always gets in their way.

He kissed his wife on the head and slowly got out of bed. He would die before he let Al's killer go. And he would be damned before he let someone treat any of his family like they had ever again.

Hughes got into his car and set out for HQ, he was going to find the damned murderers, no matter what the cost… As long as it want is precious Gracia or Elicia. 333

**Sorry it was so short I didn't have my best week so I swear the next chapter will be longer. Like a lot longer. **

**Please comment, review, etc.**

**Sorry about the fact that this one skips around a lot hope you still enjoy it **


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